By Darach Cassidy, Construction Forum Lead, New Zealand Institute of Safety Management

The third edition of the ‘State of a Thriving Nation’ report (Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum, 2025) has just been released. It confirms that the construction sector remains among the top three most harmful sectors of the New Zealand economy. 

The ‘State of a Thriving Nation’ report’s central finding is a conservative estimate of the total annual cost of poor health and safety to the economy – and for the first time, it draws a clear link between our lagging national productivity, and health and safety performance.

In 2024, the cost of workplace harm in New Zealand reached a staggering $5.4 billion, continuing a decade‑long upward trend. This figure, while eye‑watering, only tells part of the story. It excludes the often unquantifiable and lasting social and psychological impacts of workplace harm. Construction sector data shows our fatality rate per 100,000 workers was 1.5 times higher than Australia’s over the five years to 2023, and our total fatality rate is 6.5 times that of the United Kingdom. This hard-hitting report arrives at a critical juncture in our health and safety journey.

As the government nears the business end of its electoral cycle, the nation awaits the promised legislative reform – touted as a panacea. Yet, despite the minister’s attention‑grabbing press releases promising less red tape and fewer road cones, the substance of the proposed reforms appears lacking. This missed opportunity is compounded by a disregard for the strong evidence base and the united chorus of cross-sector voices (including Business New Zealand) advocating for a different path. Still, buried beneath the political theatre, there are glimmers of hope.

The majority of businesses that make up New Zealand’s construction sector are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – often ‘mum and dad’ businesses that are time‑poor and unsure of what compliance looks like in practice. Encouragingly, there is a commitment to developing clearer, more practical guidance for SMEs, such as better guidance on working at height. This guidance could help these businesses focus their limited resources on what truly matters: recognising and controlling critical risks. 

Better guidance will also benefit construction clients, reducing excessive prequalification demands, and bridging the gap between work-as-imagined and work-as-done. With legislation due to be passed in early 2026, the select committee process scheduled pre-Christmas will be a crucial opportunity for final submissions. All construction sector businesses ought to make their voices heard.   

This legislative tinkering coincides with a significant infrastructure investment. The 30-Year National Infrastructure Plan presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address systemic issues contributing to poor health and safety outcomes from the sector. The persistently high fatality and serious injury rates reflect a reliance on outdated processes and guidance, as well as a failure to innovate. If realised, this opportunity could help fill the void of system stewardship – even if focused on one sector.

With bipartisan support, and engagement across central and local government and industry, the table is set to confront these endemic issues head on. Te Waihanga (the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission), supported by National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Limited, is well-positioned to lead this charge. 

By leveraging government procurement and public‑private partnerships, they can embed expectations that positively influence health and safety outcomes into infrastructure delivery.

Delivery partners or tenderers should be required to demonstrate how their approach reflects the scientific evidence base – such as Energy Based Safety principles (Hallowell, M.R., 2021). These principles focus on identifying sources of hazardous energy and implementing controls that reduce the energy available to cause harm. For example, installing guardrails effectively reduces the energy generated by gravity in the event of a fall. Embedding these expectations will help establish a level playing field, encouraging consistency and collaboration across the sector in controlling serious injury and fatal risks.

In addition to the obvious benefits of harm reduction, improved health and safety outcomes can help offset some of the costs of the National Infrastructure Plan by reducing the construction sector’s contribution to New Zealand’s $5 billion–plus annual burden of workplace harm.

More than a decade later, the legacy of the Canterbury Rebuild Safety Charter – a unique collaboration between government and industry that delivered on its purpose – continues to deliver positive outcomes. More recently, the Construction Sector Accord has demonstrated the value of joint commitment, with government and industry working together to enhance health and safety standards. There is now an opportunity to reignite the accord with a focused initiative centred on industry collaboration and leadership in critical risk controls – one with a narrower and more achievable scope than the ill‑fated 2022–2025 Transformation Plan.

With infrastructure investment far exceeding that of the Canterbury rebuild, Minister Chris Bishop and Minister Chris Penk have a unique opportunity to follow in the footsteps of past leaders and drive lasting change.

So, what of the call to action in the ‘State of a Thriving Nation’ report? Is now the time for infrastructure businesses, in partnership with government, to take the bull by the horns and establish a Community of Practice (Hallowell et al., 2025) focused on improving sector-wide health and safety performance? The science is clear: we know the sources of harm, and New Zealand construction companies, supported by their expert health and safety professionals, know how to control them. A community of practice would support shared learning from potential and actual serious injuries and fatalities, while promoting robust control strategies that work in practice. 

The New Zealand Institute of Safety Management (NZISM), representing more than 3200 health and safety professionals, is ideally placed to support this effort. NZISM and its members can help businesses integrate the latest empirical evidence into operations and continue to be a strong voice for NZ Inc. The time is now – for all influencers, at all levels – to work together to successfully deliver the most ambitious infrastructure programme New Zealand has ever seen.

About the author: Darach Cassidy is Construction Sector Forum Lead at New Zealand Institute of Safety Management.